Saturday, October 11, 2014

Adventure in eating continues

I've been seeing my nutritionist for over a year now. At my last visit (I see her once a month now) I asked for an overview of progress in the last year. She didn't discuss it during the visit. Instead, she sent me an email a week later.

I've been following the low-carb guidelines for about a year, though the details of the menu have changed several times. There have also been several changes in the nutritional supplements I've been taking. Right now sauteed butternut squash and chicken breast are a big part of my diet.

In the last year my blood sugar level has settled down. I don't get what I've been calling "carb hunger" an hour after nearly every meal (something that mystified the dietitian at my traditional medical center), though I still get it occasionally. After a proper meal I can now usually last the morning and evening, and eat one snack in the afternoon instead of two or three. She says my pancreas has improved.

I avoid soy now and eliminating that has improved healing (though some things take a while to heal). I think the trace of arsenic she found on the first visit has been eliminated – she didn't mention it this time. She says in addition to the pancreas there is also some healing of my adrenals, gall bladder, and liver – though full healing of the liver may take a good long time now. All of these are needed for digestion, so the better they operate the more nutrition I get from my food. And less food goes straight to body fat.

Over the year she has detected immune challenges in the form of parasites, viruses, and fungi. I'm still dealing with them. Those tend to not show up in her testing until one has been eating low-carb for a month or two. These challenges show up as a recurring skin rash, which has been a problem for over 20 years now (and which traditional medicine could only suppress). The skin rash should clear up as the liver heals.

When I started seeing this nutritionist I signed various forms which said I understand the practitioners do not diagnose diseases. For example, I doubt she could tell me which particular parasites are the problem. Instead, she gets a general idea of the issue and through her testing is able to determine which supplement is able to supply a nutrient my body is lacking, which helps it drive out the toxin or parasites.

So, in the last year my health is better – I don't have the carb hungers and my weight is down a few pounds (probably enough to satisfy my health insurance program). However, other issues remain which should be handled eventually through proper nutrition. The adventure in eating continues.